Arthroscopic surgery is a technique that has been used now for several years in order to diagnose pathological lesions within a joint.  There are several types of arthroscopic procedures such as arthroscopy of the shoulder, arthroscopy of the knee, arthroscopy of the hip, arthroscopy of the ankle and many other joints.  The most common arthroscopic procedures that we do today are arthroscopy of the shoulders and the knees.  Prior to the MRI there were many more arthroscopic procedures performed simply for diagnostic purposes.  Now  that we have the MRI scan, we first do a MRI scan and then decide from the scan whether or not the patient will benefit from an arthroscopic procedure. 

An Arthroscopy  procedure is done as an outpatient.  It is done under local or general anesthesia and the patient usually recovers very quickly.